經典科幻文學:《基本上無害 Mostly Harmless》第22章5
‘He’s giving it to us for free,’ said Ford, taking a gnaw at his roll. ‘Hey, no, keep the tab open though. We have some items to add to it. Good roll.’
He took a deep pull of beer.
他狠狠灌下一大口啤酒。‘Good beer,’ he added. ‘Good ship, too,’ he said, eyeing the big pink and chrome insect-like thing, bits of which could be seen through the windows of the bar. ‘Good everything, pretty much. You know,’ he said, sitting back, reflectively, ‘it’s at times like this that you kind of wonder if it’s worth worrying about the fabric of space/time and the causal integrity of the multi-dimensional probability matrix and the potential collapse of all wave forms in the Whole Sort of General Mish Mash and all that sort of stuff that’s been bugging me. Maybe I feel that what the big guy says is right. Just let it all go. What does it matter? Let it go.’
“啤酒也棒，”他補充道，“飛船也棒。”他瞄了眼那個粉紅色的大傢伙，透過酒吧的窗戶剛好能看見那隻鉻昆蟲的一部分，“說起來一切都很棒，你知道。”他坐得舒服些，一副若有所思的神情，“每到這種時候你就會有點懷疑，懷疑那些個東西值不值得你勞神費心——我指的是空間/時間的質地，什麼概率矩陣的多元因果完整性，還有全體各色總雜燴裏各種波形的潛在坍塌危險……諸如此類老來煩我的屁事。我覺得沒準那個大塊頭說的沒錯。乾脆都撒手拉倒，有什麼關係呢？撒手拉倒！”
‘Which big guy?’ said Arthur.
“哪個大塊頭？”阿瑟問。Ford just nodded towards the stage. The big guy was saying ‘one two’ into the mike a couple of times. Couple other guys were on the stage now. Drums. Guitar.
福特朝舞臺的方向點了點頭，那個大傢伙正對着話筒說“喂喂”。舞臺上又多了兩個人。The barman, who had been silent for a moment or two, said, ‘You say he’s letting you have his ship?’
酒保從剛纔沉默到現在，這時候他問：“你說他要把他的飛船讓給你？”‘Yeah,’ said Ford. ‘Let it all go is what he said. Take the ship. Take it with my blessing. Be good to her. I will be good to her.’
“啊。”福特說，“他是這麼說的：撒手拉倒，飛船你拿走吧，還有我的祝福。好好待她。我會好好待她的。”He took a pull at his beer again.
他又喝了口啤酒。‘Like I was saying,’ he went on. ‘It’s at times like this that you kind of think, let it all go. But then you think of guys like InfiniDim Enterprises and you think, they are not going to get away with it. They are going to suffer. It is my sacred and holy duty to see those guys suffer. Here, let me put something on the tab for the singer. I asked for a special request and we agreed. It’s to go on the tab. OK?’
“就像我說的，”他繼續道，“每當這種時候你就會想，乾脆撒手拉倒，可接着你想到無限帥那些人，於是你又想，他們別以爲能就這麼算了。他們要付出代價。看他們付出代價這是我至高無上神聖的職責。這兒，我要在賬單上加點小費給那邊的歌手，我提個特別的要求，跟他已經談妥了，小費就算在賬上。OK？”‘OK,’ said the barman, cautiously. Then he shrugged. ‘OK, however you want to do it. How much?’
“OK。”酒保顯得有些戒備，然後他聳聳肩，“好吧，隨便你。多少？”
